1. Field
The subject application is related to a method of verifying the roundness of a part, such as a clutch hub. The subject application is also related to a gage for verifying the roundness of the part.
2. Description of the Related Art
During a manufacturing process, sample parts may be routinely removed from the manufacturing line and measured to ensure that selected dimensions fall within required tolerances. One method of measuring parts includes the use of a touch probe of a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Specifically, the touch probe is contacted with selected surfaces of the part. Such a process can be time consuming and, in fact, can take as much as 10-20 minutes for a part such as a clutch hub. During the entire time that the part is being measured, additional parts are being continuously manufactured on the manufacturing line. As such, if it is determined that the part is not within tolerance after the 10-20 minute measuring process, then the parts that were manufactured during that 10-20 minute are likely also not within tolerance and thus are scrapped, which is economically disadvantageous.
As one example, vehicle drivetrain components, e.g., automotive transmission components such as clutch hubs, are subject to strict tolerance requirements. Such components may include outer splines and inner splines and the roundness of the part along these splines must be within specific tolerances. As such, several data points are taken for these splines with a touch probe and the roundness is calculated from these data points. Slopes between the outer splines and the inner splines, and designed ridges in the outer splines and/or inner splines, are specifically not measured with the touch probe because such data points would interfere with the roundness calculation. This process is time consuming and is subject to operator error by requiring the operator to only touch the touch probe to the outer splines and inner splines without touching the slopes or designed ridges.
Thus, there remains an opportunity to develop a measurement device and method for quickly and effectively measuring a surface dimension of a part.